History of Snowmobiling

by Stephen Campbell, Museum Director

The history of the modern day recreational snowmobile is fairly recent, however,
over the snow travel goes back many years. What is amazing though is that man
actually flew before he could master snow travel. The Wright Brothers Flew in
1903, the very first vehicle that was built to go in snow wasn't built until
1908. That was actually the Lombard log hauler designed and built in Waterville,
Maine. It was a large cumbersome machine that resembled a steam locomotive, only
it had a half track design and front skis.

In 1909, a man by the name of O.C. Johnson built an over the snow machine that
actually went on top of the snow, sometimes. It was roughly ten feet long, used
a track design, "one lunger engine", and it steered, well almost.

Then in 1913 Virgil White, a Ford dealer in New Hampshire, invented a track and
ski unit conversion for the Model T Ford. This invention was almost
simultaneously invented in Waterville, Maine with neither man having knowledge
of the other. Mr. White was the first to use the word "snowmobile".
Early in the winter of 1922, fifteen year old J. Armand Bombardier designed a
wind driven sleigh with a Model T engine. This was to be the first of many
snowmobiles designed by Bombardier.

One of the most amazing snowmobiles was built in 1924 in Sayner, Wisconsin. It
was the invention of a gentleman by the name of Earl Eliason. Mr. Eliason called
it his motor toboggan, and that basically was what it was. It was a wooden
toboggan fitted with two skis, which were steered with ropes, powered by a 2 1/2
horsepower Johnson outboard motor, and was pushed by an endless steel cleated
track. The amazing part is that it was a front mounted, liquid cooled engine
that used a jack shaft. All these are qualities that are credited to modern day
snowmobiles. Mr. Eliason patented and manufactured his machine until 1939 when
he sold out to F.W.D. Corporation in Canada. F.W.D. made these right thru to
1960.

As time past, a few machines came and went, including Bombardiers, air driven
and half track series of the 30's, 40's and 50's. However it wasn't until
1954 that the modern day recreational snowmobile was born. David Johnson was a
partner with Alan and Edgar
Hetteen
of Polaris Industries, the former Hetteen, Hoist, and Derrick. At this time Mr.
Johnson made his design of a snowmobile during a weekend adventure, unknown to
the other two partners. This became the very first Polaris, which David was
quite proud of. However upon their return, the Hetteen brothers weren't real
pleased with the expenditure of time and effort wasted on something unrelated to
their manufacture of farm equipment. They told David to get rid of it, which he
did. He sold it, much to their amazement. As the winter progressed through,
there were constant problems with the machine and Polaris felt obligated to
service it because it was their manufacture. After several trips on snowshoes
and literally backpacking the machine out, David convinced the Hetteen brothers
to make a second machine for the purpose of pulling out the first one. Thus the
early beginnings of the Polaris Sno Traveler. Polaris built a few machines per
year from 1955 to 1957 and then phased out of farm equipment and began
manufacturing sleds.

This brings us to Millinocket, Maine and the purpose of a museum. Polaris
decided in 1958 that they had to set up a dealer network. Bob Morrill of
Yarmouth, Maine was chosen as the eastern distributor, at roughly the same time
Ray Brandt of Boise, Idaho was set up as the western distributor. In the fall of
1958 Mr. Morrill ventured north to Caribou to see Linwood Willard, who was
selling chain saws; and to Millinocket to see Earlan B. Campbell, who was also
selling chain saws along with boats and motors. It is believed that these two
gentlemen were among the first five in the United States.
They were the first two in Maine. Mr.
Campbell had been a trapper, hunter, and bush pilot for years, so obviously,
right off, he tried to do the same with the new invention that he had done with
his snow shoes. However the snowmobile wouldn't go half the time unless a trail
was snowshoed first. Because of this, Mr. Campbell, through many conversations
with Mr. Morrill, felt that the machine could be greatly improved. It was
discussed with the Hetteens and David Johnson, who claimed that the sleds went
quite well in Minnesota. The reason for this is that Minnesota is flat and cold,
and the snow conditions are the same all the time. In Maine its obviously very
hilly and snow conditions change from day to day. Therefore, through the efforts
of Bob Morrill and Earlan Campbell, Polaris decided to do a certain percentage of
their testing in the Allagash Region of Northern Maine. Mr. Morrill was the
first organizer and Mr. Campbell was the guide and mechanic. As many as twenty
machines at a time made these long voyages in the dead of winter to test new
equipment as well as clothing. Many advancements leading to the modern
snowmobile were made during these trips from 1961 to 1966. Several of the
snowmobiles housed in the museum are prototypes that participated in those
trips.

In 1994 Bob Brodeur, a member of the Northern Timber Cruisers Snowmobile Club,
held a Pioneers Reunion to commemorate these events and honor the gentlemen that
participated. At this time it was conceived that a museum would be a fitting way
to honor the snowmobile history, specifically the important part that
Millinocket, Maine and the Allagash played in it. The project was initiated with a re-enactment
of the early trips by traveling from Millinocket to Nugent's Camps at Chamberlain
Lake on antique snowmobiles in 1985. It was called "Allagash 85, the Earlan
B. Campbell Memorial Expedition". Prior to leaving on the trip there was a
ceremonial ground breaking for the museum by David Johnson, Edgar Hetteen, and
Paul Doherty, who all went on the trip which followed most exactly the earlier
route in 1962. Seven of the machines and twelve of the people actually went on
one or more of the trips. Even the clothing was of the earlier design including
military parkas and "Bunny Boots".

The re-enactment of this trip covered 75 miles each way and took 4 days to
complete. Average speeds were 7 to 9 miles per hour, with an occasional burst
of speed during races which reached 19 miles per hour. Today, with modern
machines, this trip could be made in 4 hours. All the machine made the entire
trip under their own power though, and proved the mechanical prowess of the
early sledders.

Many events followed this 1985 excursion to raise money to build this museum. It
was a long hard road that included public suppers, catering outside events,
raffles, and much more. But finally the dream became a reality, and many
snowmobiling pioneers were here to cut the ribbon on February 25, 1989. It is
now a fine representation of the snowmobile's past, and will prove to represent
even more as time passes and more exhibits are initiated. It is also here to
honor all the great people in the history of snowmobiling. But even more than
that, it represents the determination of the people in the Northern Timber
Cruisers Snowmobile Club who worked so hard to make it a reality. It is to these
people that it is dedicated. Please enjoy your tour.